Why do organizations struggle with turnover, burnout and employee engagement?
Sometimes the obvious explanation isn't the root cause. High turnover, burnout, low engagement and hiring difficulties can be symptoms of deeper organizational challenges involving leadership, structure, culture, talent strategy, people practices or systems and processes.
People problems may actually be organizational problems
“We can’t keep good people.” “Our team is burned out.” “We can’t find the right talent.” “Our leadership team just isn’t working.”
I’ve spent nearly 20 years working with leaders and organizations, and I’ve heard some version of these statements more times than I can count. And I get it. When something isn’t working, we want to fix it. Quickly.
Turnover is high? Let’s focus on retention. Engagement is low? Let’s survey employees. Managers are struggling? Let’s get them some training.
Sometimes that is exactly what an organization needs. But sometimes it isn’t.
One of the things I’ve learned over the years is to get really curious before jumping to the solution. There’s a line from Ted Lasso that has always stuck with me: “Be curious, not judgmental.” I love it as life advice, but I think it’s pretty great advice for leaders too.
Because the challenge an organization can see isn’t always the challenge it actually needs to solve.
Look Beneath the Symptoms
I keep coming back to the idea of an iceberg.
Above the water are the things we notice first: turnover, burnout, low engagement, hiring challenges, leadership gaps and performance issues. They’re visible. They’re frustrating. And usually, by the time a leader is talking about them, they’ve become painful enough that something needs to change.
But there is a whole lot happening underneath that waterline.
How are people being led? Is the organizational structure still right for where the organization is headed? Are roles and expectations clear? Are we developing the talent we already have? What is the culture actually like to experience every day? Do our people practices support our employees and managers? Are our systems helping people do their jobs or making everything harder?
That’s where it gets interesting.
Because the more you understand what’s happening underneath, the more likely you are to solve the right problem.
Employee Turnover Is a Signal, Not a Diagnosis
A leader tells me, “We have a retention problem.”
Okay. Maybe. But I’m going to have some questions.
Why are people leaving? When are they leaving? Are we losing our strongest people or seeing turnover everywhere? What are employees telling us? What aren’t they telling us? Is this a manager issue? A workload issue? A compensation issue? Are people unclear about expectations? Do they see a future here? Is our structure creating frustration? Is our culture different in practice than it is on paper?
Suddenly, we’re having a very different conversation.
Turnover is still important. But instead of assuming turnover is the problem, we can start treating it as information about the organization.
It’s a signal.
When People Problems Point to Organizational Problems
This is probably the piece I feel most strongly about.
When something is happening with employees, it’s easy to label it a “people problem” and immediately focus on the most obvious solution. But many of the challenges we think of as people problems can also tell us something bigger about the organization.
If nobody knows who owns a decision, look at structure and accountability. If your strongest employee has nowhere to grow, look at talent strategy and development. If your structure was built for who you were five years ago instead of where you’re trying to go, it may be time to rethink the structure.
If managers are promoted because they are great individual contributors but never taught how to lead people, we need to look at how we select, develop and support our leaders. And if your HRIS requires three spreadsheets, four workarounds and a prayer to get basic information...we probably need to look at that too.
A strong HR or People function can and should play an important role in identifying and addressing these challenges. But the best solutions often require us to look across the organization. Leadership, managers, systems, structure, culture, strategy and people practices all shape the experience people have at work.
These challenges eventually show up in engagement, retention, recruiting and performance. But they also show up in an organization’s ability to execute its strategy, navigate change, serve its community and deliver on its mission.
That’s why I believe people challenges are often organizational challenges in disguise.
That’s also why an outside perspective can be valuable. When you’re inside an organization, it can be difficult to separate the symptom from the source. DBD Group helps nonprofit leaders step back and understand what’s really happening — looking across leadership, organizational structure, talent strategy, culture, people practices, and systems and processes. From there, we can help identify priorities and build practical solutions that address the root cause, not just the most visible problem.
For nonprofits, these challenges can be especially consequential. Staffing issues don't just affect productivity; they can affect programs, fundraising, community relationships and ultimately mission delivery. When resources are already stretched, repeatedly addressing symptoms instead of root causes can become particularly costly.
Get Curious Before You Fix It
So when something starts showing up above the waterline, my encouragement is pretty simple: get curious before you fix it.
Look at leadership. Look at structure. Look at talent. Look at culture. Look at your people practices. Look at your systems and processes. Most importantly, listen to the people who experience those things every day.
Ask what might be underneath.
You may confirm exactly what you thought the problem was. Or you may find something completely different. Either way, you’ll be solving based on what the organization actually needs instead of treating the first symptom you can see.
Maybe Ted had it right. Start with curiosity.
If turnover, burnout, hiring challenges or leadership issues keep resurfacing in your organization, it may be time to look beneath the surface. DBD Group can help you diagnose what’s really getting in the way — and determine what to do next. Healthy organizations aren’t built by chasing one people problem after another. They’re built by creating a strong foundation that allows great people to do great work.
